Food redistribution working group launched

Food industry stakeholders - including major retailers such as Morrison’s, ASDA, and the Co-operative - have come together to find ways to make sure food waste that is still edible can be redistributed to those in need.

The new working group met last week to look at solutions to food redistribution in the UK, building on the work of charities such as Fareshare and FoodCycle.

Other members of the working group include the British Retail Consortium, Food and Drink Federation, WRAP, and other major brands that are involved are Boots, Kellogg’s and Innocent drinks.

Andy Dawe, head of food and drink at WRAP and chair of the industry working group, said: “Preventing waste arising not only saves money in tough economic times but also provides environmental savings.”

Dawe also said that with the rising cost of food affecting the most vulnerable in society, increasing food distribution will help them and also prevent the waste of food and the resources that went into making it.

“By tackling this with key players across the supply chain we can collectively discover what works and what doesn’t to find the best solutions that we hope will lead to increased redistribution,” he added.

Resource management minister Lord de Mauley welcomed the launch of the group. He said: “Preventing food waste protects the environment and makes good business sense. Surplus food is an inevitable part of a secure supply chain and this is an excellent means of putting it to good use.”

Ben Elliot, the co-founder of luxury lifestyle company Quintessentially, is to advise the Government on a £15m fund to support charities redistributing food waste following his appointment as ‘food surplus and waste champion’.

Prince Charles is to launch Business in the Community’s (BITC) ‘Waste to Wealth’ voluntary initiative, which will see signatories commit to “doubling the nation’s resource productivity and reduce avoidable waste by 2030”.

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